Gaurdian Angel
by Between-A-Dream
Summary: Picks up soon after Willow is drained of dark magic. Tara's death has been hard on all her friends, but they all know Willow has it worse. So when a mysterious figure shows up in Sunnydale with no memory of her life, and saying she has seen the gang and Tara in dreams and can help, can Willow and her friends trust her? Rated T for language, violence, and boarderline sexual content.
1. Dreaming Of You

_Hello all my lovely readers! So this is my first official Tara and Willow story that I plan on keeping. I have been sort of binge watching Buffy scenes with them for the pests few days. I've always loved this couple, and then when watching a scene with them at about 3:30 A.M. (Because honestly that's around when most of my best ideas hit me) I had this idea for a story for them. I hope that this story turns out to be a long one, or at least a decent 15 or so chapters. I may continue the story for a few more chapters after everything is resolved, but we'll see how everything goes. But first I guess I have to get started, so enjoy the first chapter! Reviews, compliments, and constructive criticism are always welcome!_

* * *

172 days. That was the first thing that Willow's mind traveled to when she awoke that morning. The sun hurt her eyes, so she groaned and blinked a few times, laying back in her bed. She rolled over and once again looked at the spot beside her. The spot that for 172 days had been empty. The spot that for 172 days she had stared at every morning, hoping that eventually she would blink and Tara would be there, back in her arms, back in her life. But she knew it would never happen. She had tried, and failed, to save her girlfriend. No, Tara was more than her girlfriend. Tara was the reason Willow used to wake up in the morning. Tara was the reason that she could sleep at night. Tara was the reason she smiled, the reason she believed in love, the reason she had for living. But not anymore. Now, all of that was gone.

Now, all the light in Willow's life was dark. All the happiness was despair. All the love was anguish. And she knew that eventually, she would be forced to move on, accept that the only person she had ever truly loved was gone. And she dreaded waiting for that day. That day she would wake up and be able to accept that Tara was really lost forever. She dreaded that day where she would have to forget it all. "Willow?" Dawn's voice sounded from outside her door as the teenager knocked gently. When there was no answer, she hesitantly walked inside and saw the red head laying on her side, staring at the empty half of the bed. "Hey, Xander's here. He uh... Made pancakes," she smiled, hoping that it would cheer the older woman up. Instead, tears formed in Willow's eyes. "Pancakes... Tara used to make pancakes... And... And she would always make sure... Make sure that I ate at least two... Because... Because breakfast makes all things better... And..." Willow stumbled over her words and she tried to smile a little through her watery eyes, but her lips quivered and she broke down in tears, which made Dawn tear up as well.

She walked over to the bed and sat down beside the witch, placing her hand over the girl opposite her. "Willow... I... I know it's hard... And I know that... That you miss her... And I miss her too... But... But don't you think... Don't you think she would've wanted you to be happy?" Dawn asked. "How can I be happy when the only thing that made me happy is now gone?" it was a question that the younger girl didn't have an answer for. "I... I don't know," she whispered, wiping a tear out of her eye. Willow looked up at her and sat up, hugging her tightly and crying into her shoulder. Dawn hugged her back, a few of her own tears dripping down her face as well. Eventually, Willow regained her composure and she wiped her eyes. "Well, we better not keep Xander waiting, you know how impatient men can be," she faked a laugh and stood up, sniffling a few times and wiping off her face. Dawn nodded, not able to muster up any more words to say, and the two walked downstairs with fake smiles plastered on both their faces.

* * *

Darkness. It was the only thing that surrounded Liz. She couldn't tell where to go, but she kept running into things that weren't there. "Hello?" she called. Her voice echoed, though off of what she didn't know. When she looked through the abyss, she saw a small, floating light in the distance. "Hello?" she asked again, taking a cautious step towards the light. It floated closer to her until it was about four inches from her face. It was a small glowing ball, about the size of a cherry tomato. It floated around her head a few times, then started back the way it had come from. Deciding she had no better options, Liz followed. The light guided her through the darkness, and although it's light did not reveal the identity of anything around her, she no longer ran into hidden objects. Eventually, the light stopped in front of a door. The door was dark red, with a picture of a cat on it. Curiously, Liz opened the door, and as she did so the light disappeared.

On the other side of the door was a small but neatly kept bedroom. There were pictures of cats on the wall, and on the dresser were magic trinkets and spell books. A small photo of two girls was in a picture frame on the table beside the bed, their arms wrapped around each other and their faces plastered with smiles. It was clear they were more than friends. Liz recognized the red head in the picture. Well, she had seen the face. The name, she didn't so much as have a clue. "It's nice, isn't it?" a voice from behind Liz made her jump and spin around. It was the other girl from the photo. Liz had not seen her before. "Who are you?" she asked, backing up a few steps. The woman did not answer her. "It's exactly how I remember it," she sighed longingly, walking around the room. "Who are you? Why do I keep ending up in places like this?" Liz begged for an answer. She wasn't entirely sure what this woman wanted from her, and if it was a good thing or not. The woman laughed a little, but she didn't answer either one of the questions that had been asked. Instead, she offered a smile. "What do you want from me?" Liz questioned. Before the woman could answer her, Liz gasped and her eyes shot open. She was in bed, in her room, alone once again.

* * *

Willow sighed as she walked into The Magic Box. She had nearly destroyed the building when she was under the influence of dark magic. Thinking about it made her sick inside. Buffy was sitting at a table reading a book, and Dawn was playing cards with Xander and Giles. "Hey Will," Buffy offered her a welcoming smile, which she returned briefly. "Anything new today? New demon or threat we have to face?" she asked, sitting down in a chair. "No, for today we are just taking the day off. No stress, no demons, no evil and no magic. Today we are just going to run the shop and act like normal people for a change," Giles responded. "Right... Normal," Willow answered distantly. "I know. I don't even remember what normal is anymore. Normal for us is off fighting hell spawns and evil nightmare creatures," Buffy sighed, tossing her book down. "Well today, normal is selling store products and being good business people. Any objections?" When no one responded to his question, Giles stood up, walked up to the door, and turned the closed sign to open.

* * *

Liz walked around her house, feeling pounding against her skull. She couldn't remember anything about herself. Nothing about her family, herself, anything. All she knew was that her name was Elizabeth Joanne Reynolds, and that she was 21 years old as of a week ago, thanks to the ID card she had found in a dresser drawer. A week ago. That was when she woke up in this house alone. No family around, no friends she could recall, no past memories of her life. No knowledge other than the ability to speak English and breathe. She had yet to be hungry, though she was pretty sure she was supposed to eat from what she had seen on a tv show she had seen earlier in the week. Another machine she knew how to use, with no understanding or memory of how she had learned. She liked the name Liz better than Elizabeth, so she decided that would be the diminutive she would go by. She felt the room spinning, and stumbled as she tried to walk. She kept getting trapped in different places in her sleep that kept hitting her at random times. Eventually she collapsed on her bed, once again going unconscious. This time, she wasn't in a dark room. Instead, she was back in the bedroom that she had met the new woman in. However, the woman was not in sight. Liz walked around and when she passed in front of the mirror, her reflection blurred. Within a few seconds, instead of seeing herself, she could see a room that looked like the inside of a store.

There was a tall woman with dirty blonde hair sitting at a table. At another table, two men and a teenage girl were playing cards. And sitting in a chair alone was a red headed woman. There were a few other people walking around, but her focus remained on the five. As her eyes rested upon each one, she could hear a voice in her mind telling her their names. Buffy, Xander, Rupert, Dawn, and Willow. She had seen all five of these people before in previous dreams, but she had never been in the same room with them, and she had never been able to put any name to the faces. As she looked at Willow, she could feel her heart surging with pain, almost enough to make her cry on the spot. The rest of them had that same pain, but it was much heavier and much more unbearable in Willow. It was pain that Liz could put a name to- grievance. But for who? The woman she had met in the room? Was that woman dead? Was that why she could see her and no one else could? And if she was, what did any of it have to do with her?

They didn't look at her. In fact, she didn't even think they could see her. She walked up to Buffy and stood in front of her, but she looked at Liz like she was looking through her. "Why am I here?" Liz asked no on in peculiar. "Dawn, did you say something?" Buffy looked as if she had heard someone. "No, why?" the teenager questioned. "Uh, nothing. I just thought I might have heard... Never mind. I'm just not used to this whole "normal" thing, that's all," she explained. Liz walked around some, looking through the shop. Throughout the store were tons of spell ingredients, amulets, trinkets, anything and everything you could possibly associate with magic. She watched Repurt give someone their purchase in a bag with "The Magic Box" in bright letters on the front.

The store name was an unfamiliar one to Liz, but she still felt like it rung a bell. Just as she was about to try to communicate with Willow, she woke up again. And she again had a massive headache. Why did she keep seeing people in her sleep? Why didn't she remember who she was? Who was the mysterious woman she had seen who was the only one who seemed to see her as well? And if that woman was dead like she suspected, did she need help? Did she expect Liz to be able to give it to her? She looked around her room and saw a laptop on the dresser. Deciding she needed to find the store for herself, she searched directions to the magic box and printed out the map. It was only about a forty-five minute drive from where she was. Then again, she didn't remember if she had a car. She walked downstairs and though she had tried already, she again looked around in every room, not sure if she wanted to find anyone there or not. She sighed when the results turned out the same and made her way down into the basement. There, parked in the middle of the room, was a black, 1967 Chevy Impala. "Hm. Whoever I am, I have good taste," she mumbled to herself. Letting herself in, she started the car, opened the basement door, and started the drive to the shop.

* * *

 **So what did you think? I hope that you all liked this story so far! I actually had to shorten this chapter and I'm going to make what I had written after this part of chapter two, otherwise this chapter would not have had a very good cliffhanger and it would have been like 6,000 words haha. Anyways, hopefully the next chapter will be up soon, I hope you guys liked, please review with your opinions and any kind of response you had!**

 **Ciao!**


	2. History Books

_Hey guys! I'm glad you liked my last chapter and you've come back to read more! I hope that you continue to enjoy this story!_

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Liz was hesitant about going inside. Sure she had been correct about the existence of the place, but she also didn't live too far away from it. She could've heard the name before. But she had to know what her dreams meant. And she had seen these people multiple times. Never had she known their names though. Not until her most recent dream. She parked her car and locked it before walking up to the door and going inside. When she looked around, it was exactly the same as in the dream. And Buffy, Xander, Rupert, Dawn, and Willow were all almost in the exact same spots as before. "Hi, can I help you?" Buffy asked as she stood and walked over to her.

"Um, I uh... I... Yes... I mean, no, no thank you... I'll be ok," she stuttered trying to speak. "Ok, well, if you need anything let me know," the blonde answered. "Thanks Buffy," Liz responded. Only after she finished saying the words did she realize what she had said. Buffy's head snapped up and she stared at Liz, looking confused but also very threatening. "How did you know that was my name?" she asked, taking a step towards the nervous girl. "I... I uh... I mean..." Liz couldn't figure out how to explain it, especially when she didn't understand it herself. She had completely backed up against a bookshelf and Buffy's eyes grew narrow before Xander noticed and interfered. "Woah woah woah girls, let's just calm down," he stood between the two.

"How do you know who I am?" Buffy repeated her question. "Hey Buff, calm down for a sec, a lot of people know who you are," Xander pointed out. "Yeah. They do. Most of them are evil," the blonde picked up a knife, causing the trembling girl to whimper in fear. "I... I don't... I don't know you... I mean I do... I don't know you personally... But I know you're Buffy... And that's Willow, and that's Xander and Dawn, and Rupe- er, um, Mr. Giles... I know you all and I don't know how... I don't even know myself..." Liz started to tear up and Buffy stood back a step, though her gaze did not falter from suspicious. "Will, get the customers outta here, we may have something on our hands here," Buffy instructed. Without hesitation, everyone else in the shop was gone with a flick of Willow's wrist. "Now. Let's see what we're dealing with," the slayer's tone made Liz more nervous than her words.

* * *

"Demon," Xander suggested again. "It's not a demon Xander, there's no recollection of any demon that's even close to what she's describing," Giles explained once more. "How do we know she's not lying?" Buffy's eyes narrowed. "I... I don't know how I can prove it to you... But... But I don't want to hurt you... I don't know if I'm supposed to or not... But I don't want to and I won't if it's my choice... I just want to know who I am and why I'm here... And why I keep seeing you all," Liz again teared up, and Dawn cautiously held her hand. "We'll figure it out, I promise," she gave a small smile. "You said you saw all of us in your dreams?" Giles questioned. "Yes... All of you. But... But it was like... I... I never talked to you all... It was like you couldn't see me... But this one girl... I saw this girl-" Liz was cut off. "What girl?" Xander questioned. "I don't know... She wouldn't say her name... But she could hear me and see me, I think... I think she led me to her... With a light... Like tinker bell or something... She was standing in this room... She could see me... And she didn't say much... But-" again Liz was cut off. "Tara!" Willow cried, realizing that was the only person that Liz could have been talking about.

"Will, hold on a sec. We don't know it-" Xander started but a harsh look from the witch stopped him. "I don't care if we aren't sure of it," she barely was able to speak the words. "Wait guys, I think I found something," Buffy's voice interrupted them. The group walked up and looked at what she was pointing to in an ancient legends book. "Guardian Angel," Xander was the first one who dared speak the words. "A... A what?" Liz asked, still sitting in her position in her chair. "A guardian angel. I think that's what you are," Buffy repeated Xander's words. "Hold on. Aren't guardian angles like, myths first off? And second, aren't they supposed to just protect people from evil?" Dawn questioned. "According to this, no. Guardian angels are beings that can be created for a multitude of different purposes. Innocence in danger, heroes in need of aid, and... Unnatural or wrongful death," Buffy struggled to say the last words. "So... Tara's death... That created her?" Xander asked. "No... I... I tried to bring her back... And... And I... Osiris... He said that her death was the natural order of things... That she couldn't be brought back," thinking about it made the witch nearly start crying. "But that was dark magic, that's never going to give you what you want," Liz's voice surprised them. "I... I mean... Angels are good... Pure magic... It might be different," she explained. "Why didn't it happen when Buffy... You know... Died?" Dawn questioned. "Well... Um... I mean I sacrificed myself... I chose to die... And you guys brought me back... Maybe the fates knew that you would?" Buffy suggested. "But... But it also says they're created instantaneously," Willow looked over Buffy's shoulder and read down the page.

"Not necessarily. It says they have to possess a vessel, you know like a person's body that they take over. They're a being without a body, and they need to borrow one. Because they're a force created out of good intention, they have to be allowed by the person to enter a body. And the vessel has to be at least 21 years old. It says that otherwise the body can't take the strain it will cause them," Buffy read. "Why don't they just chose a vessel that fits those needs?" Dawn asked. "They only can survive in one. They are assigned someone, they can't just choose someone else," Buffy sighed.

"So... What are they supposed to... You know... Do? Like... Why are they created? What purpose do they have?" Xander asked. "Apparently they have a lot of different purposes... They can right the wrong, save someone's life... They can even bring back the dead," the words caused a silence to cast over the room. "I... I don't know if I can do that... I mean... I don't know anything about myself... I don't even know what I am for sure... We aren't even sure if this guardian angel thing is what I am... And I... I want to help, I really do... But I don't even know how," Liz finally spoke. Suddenly Willow fell into a lounge chair and started to cry. She gripped at a pillow and buried her face in the fabric, feeling her body trembling. "Tara... Baby I'm so sorry," the broken tone laced in her words broke their hearts, and Liz could feel an overwhelming mass of sorrow as she watched the red head sob for her lost love. "But... I am going to try," the words caused Willow to look up at her. "I... I can't explain it... But I feel like... Like I'm being called to do this... Like I have to... Like it's what I was put on this earth for... And I don't know how yet, but I promise you I am going to try. I'm going to bring Tara back," Liz promised. Willow's eyes filled with hope and she stood, slowly approaching the angel. Kneeling down to her level in the chair, the witch threw her arms around Liz, embracing her tightly. No one spoke another word. They simply stood up one by one, embracing the angel as well, all of them praying that somehow, someway, Liz would find a way to bring their beloved friend back to them.


End file.
